A presentation made to Powell River Board of Education trustees on Tuesday, December 13, will likely lead to an indoor rock-climbing bouldering wall being built at Kelly Creek Community School.
“We had previously said that the board would be able to support something,” said School District 47 secretary-treasurer Steve Hopkins. “It was just a matter of, what does it look like?”
A group of grade seven students from Kelly Creek’s outdoor adventure program, taught by Andrew Shostak, proposed three options to the board of what the climbing wall might look like.
“Mr. Shostak thought we should have a climbing wall so we could teach the younger kids and have fun, and it would be cool for outdoor adventure,” said 12-year-old student Ella Conroy.
The outdoor learning program is always a focus at Kelly Creek, said Shostak, adding that the wall is adventure and experience-based, which will add another dimension to the program.
He said every student in his class completed their own design, starting with the actual blueprints used in the construction of a new gym and stage where the wall will be built.
“The class then looked at those blueprints, did all their calculations and each student came up with their own scale design using a 3D-design tool,” said Shostak.
That computer tool was an open-source software called SketchUp.
“I liked making the designs on SketchUp,” said Conroy. “It was fun making different kinds of climbing walls and seeing which one was better.”
Shostak said he has used SketchUp in the past but not to this extent, where creating the scale versions was so important.
“It is a pretty complex program,” he said. “There are a lot of different ways to do things with this software. If students have questions, I can help them, but I let them create their own ways to do things. It inspires creativity, inspires problem solving and inspires design.”
Budget will ultimately decide which is the best design and that decision will be made by the school board, according to Hopkins.
Option one is for entry-level bouldering, option two is entry level to intermediate and option three is for complex-intermediate bouldering. The students said they prefer option three, the most expensive, which will cost between $39,500 and $49,000.
“The board was generally supportive of the mid-price range,” said Hopkins. He estimated the budget will be between $30,000 and $35,000.
Grade sevens will only be able to use the wall for a short time. When completed, sometime in the spring, they will have just a few months to enjoy it before going off to grade eight at Brooks Secondary School next fall.
According to Shostak, the students are all excited about leaving the climbing wall as a legacy for future Kelly Creek students.
“They’re excited to work as leaders when the wall does get built and teach the younger kids, and really feel like they’re passing on their knowledge and skills,” said Shostak.
Jack Padgett, 12, said he’s been lucky to go to Kelly Creek and the climbing wall is great for the school.
“It’s a pretty unique opportunity and lots of schools don’t have that because they don’t have nice teachers and people who want it,” said Padgett. “I thought it would be a great learning and teaching tool, especially for kids to get exercise, and a great opportunity to learn new physical activity and have fun with your friends and classmates.”
